Owner extends talks on takeover

Bloomberg NewsCHICAGO TRIBUNE

ABN Amro Holding NV, the parent of Chicago's LaSalle Bank, agreed to extend exclusive takeover discussions with Barclays PLC through the end of the week and said it will meet with a rival bidding group led by Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC.

Barclays set some initial terms on March 20 to buy ABN in what would be the world's largest financial-services acquisition. "There can be no certainty that they will lead to a transaction or what form it will take," the companies said in a joint statement Tuesday.

Analysts said speculation about a competing bid might have lifted ABN shares beyond the reach of Barclays. ABN has agreed to sit down with Royal Bank executives in Amsterdam next week.

"It means they don't know what to do, they're in trouble," said Alain Tchibozo, an equity analyst at ING Groep NV in Paris.

Edinburgh-based Royal Bank, Spain's Santander Central Hispano SA and Fortis, based in Brussels and the Dutch city of Utrecht, said April 13 that they had asked ABN for "exploratory talks."